Court bans access to Gülen’s YouTube video after he reveals assassinations could be blamed on him

An İstanbul court on Tuesday banned access to several YouTube videos by US-based Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, including one published on Sunday in which he revealed that government circles are now planning to assassinate prominent people in Turkey and put the blame on him and his followers.

According to a decision by the İstanbul 9th Penal Court of Peace on Tuesday, access to Gülen’s speeches on the YouTube account of HerkulNagme that were published on Aug. 6, 11 and 13 was banned under Counterterrorism Law No. 3713.

In the video shared Sunday night on the Herkul.org website and its social media accounts, including YouTube, Gülen said after a graft probe in 2013 and the July 15 coup attempt, government circles are now planning to pin the blame on him and his movement for the planned assassination of some famous figures in Turkey.

Several pro-government media outlets in Turkey and the Turkish service of the Sputnik news agency reported on Gülen’s speech, saying he ordered his followers to assassinate prominent people in Turkey by only using the part where Gülen narrates the conspirators’ plans.

Following the spread of the fake news in the Turkish media, the relevant part of Gülen’s speech was shared with English subtitles on several other social media accounts including that of Osman Şimşek, a disciple of Gülen’s staying with him at a retreat center in the Poconos Mountains in Pennsylvania, where Gülen has been in self-exile since 1999.

In a tweet on Tuesday, Şimşek said a court decision had also banned access to his Twitter account for the sixth time.

Gülen said in the speech on Sunday: “Now others [government circles] are thinking: ‘So what should we do now? We need something more serious, we need to assassinate a few very important people, and finish them [Hizmet followers] off’.”

“Do you understand what I’m talking about here? I’m telling you of things that are being talked about by everyone, things plotted behind closed doors but now being uttered publicly. They’re saying, ‘Let us take care of [assassinate] a few important names, stir up some commotion in such a way that people will surely view it as a ‘coup,’ and thus we will have fooled all those who haven’t already been convinced’.”